Happy Vocalversary to Me

Here we are, one year to the day after I stumbled across an ad for Vocal.media with a link to the challenges. I remember hesitating and doing the monthly membership. It’s a pity that I’m forever stuck in month-to-month, like a bitch with bad credit who can’t get a lease with a cosigner since I began this way—I wanted to switch to the annual membership about nine months ago. Alas, ‘tis not to be.

I didn’t post anything during my first month, just read others’ work and subscribed to a few. My first post was 11 months ago:

I get an error message when I try to find it in stats, so I have no clue how many reads it has, but it has a whopping five likes and one entire comment.

I did a reflection piece about my first year here last month.

So how have I done my first year?

18 challenge placements, including 3 wins

21 top stories

160 subscribers

1 paid subscriber

$59.46 from reads, 9910 of them

$930.14 withdrawn

Those are the numbers, and yes, they’re important, but what’s more important is the community I’ve found. I’ve met some wonderful people, and I’ve sustained one weaponized attack on my character (as a response to my criticism of what I consider unethical behavior), which was devastating. On a more positive note, Meredith Harmon

sent me these fabulous rocks just because we share a love of these inedible fruits of the earth.

There are more: she was incredibly generous, just sending them to me. All of the spheres have their own stands, and I keep the obsidian by my chair in my reading/writing/chess room. Every little bit helps. And Meredith also dedicated this equinox poem to me

A few wonderful creators honored me on my birthday, and Mike Singleton also included a song to reply to my favorite song.

Paul Aaron Domenick made my day with this belter of a poem (Scottish slang stolen from Paul Stewart):

I was interviewed by Mariann Carroll!

These are some of the things and moments that saved me this year. I can’t begin to express the depth of my appreciation for these acts of friendship. I’m humbled and honored to be in your company.

Although I sometimes falter, I never give up.

Carbon doesn’t crumble.

I’m not here to lift anyone up—there’s a difference between being supportive and being a cheerleader, and you’ll never see me jumping around on the sidelines. Yes, I’m supportive of those who have earned that from me, but I’m not doling it out for free. Santa Claus lives in the Arctic Circle, not North Carolina.

I’m not here to say bad writing is good writing. Plenty of my writing is bad writing—I’ve said it before: everyone has to take out the trash to make space for the real work. That said, I’m here to share my genuine experiences, crafting the work after the purge of raw emotion, which there’s a lot of. So, yeah, I put out a lot of garbage, but I do the work and occasionally get to the gems hiding in the coal mine.

If you’re looking for pretty, shake ass on from here. I’m too busy seeking true beauty to waste time with pretty. If real is your schtick, stick around. That’s all I’ve got.